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Cultural Investment and Economic Benefits

Economic dividends can accrue from the country’s rich cultural heritage through proper investments, said Culture and Islamic Guidance Minister Ali Jannati on Tuesday.
“We have not been able to take advantage of our cultural heritage to benefit economically in the past 30 years. This is while developed countries are making the best of this creative sector,” he noted. The US earned $1,015 billion from its creative industries, which accounted for 6.5% of the country’s turnover. In total, in 2011, the global market for creative industries equaled to over $8,100 billion, he pointed out.
The minster called upon investors to enter the cultural realms, in a meeting held under the auspices of the Iranian Institutional Investors Association (IIIA) in Tehran, IRNA reported.
The creative industries refer to a range of economic activities which are concerned with the generation or exploitation of knowledge and information. They may variously also be referred to as the cultural industries or the creative economy. Based on some definitions advertising, architecture, art, crafts, design, fashion, film, music, performing arts, publishing, R&D, software, toys and games, TV and radio, and video games are part of this industry, while some others include education industry, too.

Opportunities
The nation has taken big strides in animation production, Jannati said giving the example of the animated film ‘Rostam and Sohrab’ which could earn $10 million in the Cannes Film market. The film was presented on the sidelines of the prestigious 2012 Cannes Film in France.
Jannati moreover pointed to the progress in the advertising industry, making a financial turnover of $33 million in the last Iranian calendar year (ended March 20). “The recent expansion of satellite networks has also paved grounds for greater advertising opportunities.”

Lucrative Investment
There are, however, still many shortcomings in many areas like cinema. “Only 330 or 350 cinemas in the country exist, and many provincial capitals don’t have any theaters. This is while investing in this sector is lucrative.” He said government will back investor and entrepreneurial foray in cultural fields like building amphitheatres, cinemas, bookstores and recreational complexes.
He hailed banks like Pasargad for entering in the visual arts and film industry, adding that the Oscar-winner film by Asghar Farhadi ‘The Separation’ “definitely owes part of its success to Pasargad Bank for investing and supporting the film.”
He also praised distribution of cinema cards to government employees “as a good trend to encourage them to view cinema and art works”.